The Astrology of I Ching (Arkana S.)

Rating:
Summary: Muddled & mediocre
Review: I was attracted to this book by its promising title, but inside I found plenty of reasons to be both disappointed and skeptical. First, skeptical: The authors & their credentials are only vaguely described and it shows in the poor scholarship, muddled explanations and modest literary achievement. I am not even convinced that there really exists an ancient work in Chinese from which this book is supposed to have been translated. Now, disappointed: The Introductory essay of ~60 pages is extremely poorly written and fails to explain any astronomical basis of I Ching astrology. It includes 10-15 pages of dense and poorly explained numerology (*no* astronomy or astrology) interspersed with about a dozen unexplained tables, that supposedly somehow connects astronomy to the I Ching hexagrams. That essay would be absolutely essential to using this system but it fails to explain anything. On the other hand, when I attempted to follow the cryptic instructions of looking up unexplained numbers cross-referenced in the dozen tables, I was led to a hexagram that captures some of the quintessence of my life. After all, that is what I have come to expect from that ancient Sage. However, the rest of the bulk of the book consists of a mediocre translation of the I Ching. In my opinion, just buy Richard Wilhelm's or Master Huang's translation and cast your questions there. But cast this disappointment to the nearest public library, where I found a copy, and be done with it.

Rating:
Summary: Muddled & mediocre
Review: I was attracted to this book by its promising title, but inside I found plenty of reasons to be both disappointed and skeptical. First, skeptical: The authors & their credentials are only vaguely described and it shows in the poor scholarship, muddled explanations and modest literary achievement. I am not even convinced that there really exists an ancient work in Chinese from which this book is supposed to have been translated. Now, disappointed: The Introductory essay of ~60 pages is extremely poorly written and fails to explain any astronomical basis of I Ching astrology. It includes 10-15 pages of dense and poorly explained numerology (*no* astronomy or astrology) interspersed with about a dozen unexplained tables, that supposedly somehow connects astronomy to the I Ching hexagrams. That essay would be absolutely essential to using this system but it fails to explain anything. On the other hand, when I attempted to follow the cryptic instructions of looking up unexplained numbers cross-referenced in the dozen tables, I was led to a hexagram that captures some of the quintessence of my life. After all, that is what I have come to expect from that ancient Sage. However, the rest of the bulk of the book consists of a mediocre translation of the I Ching. In my opinion, just buy Richard Wilhelm's or Master Huang's translation and cast your questions there. But cast this disappointment to the nearest public library, where I found a copy, and be done with it.

Rating:
Summary: The former reviewer BlueJay54 is wrong
Review: The former reviewer doesn't seem to know anything about the I Ching, Chinese Astrology, or how books were written in old China. There _does_ exist a He Luo Li Shu manuscript of which Sherril & Chu's book is a translation, in fact, I have several Chinese versions of it on my shelves. This manuscript uses the so-called Four Pillars of Chinese Astrology and links them with the eight trigrams in a way which is perfectly acceptable according to Chinese numerology. The reason why the introduction in S&C's translation is so terse, is that the Chinese original doesn't give any explanation about the workings of the system either. And that is very Chinese: don't ask _how_ the system works, just see if it works for _you_.
The calculations in S&C's book help you to calculate your Four Pillars. These calculations are not found in the Chinese original, because in China everybody already knows their Four Pillars. And S&C's calculations are just one way of many to get your FP's. Complex? Yes, but it would be useless to explain why they choose this method, because it would not add anything to the subject of the book.
The Chinese original explains each hexagram in terms of 'you will (not) get rich, you will (not) have many childeren, you will (not) have a high place in society', etc.; this is what most Chinese people were/are interested in. S&C give a more Western approach, adding psychological elements about character and capabilities.
The former reviewer has experienced that the system works. In China that would be sufficient. And S&C's translation is a very Chinese book.

Rating:
Summary: The former reviewer BlueJay54 is wrong
Review: The former reviewer doesn't seem to know anything about the I Ching, Chinese Astrology, or how books were written in old China. There _does_ exist a He Luo Li Shu manuscript of which Sherril & Chu's book is a translation, in fact, I have several Chinese versions of it on my shelves. This manuscript uses the so-called Four Pillars of Chinese Astrology and links them with the eight trigrams in a way which is perfectly acceptable according to Chinese numerology. The reason why the introduction in S&C's translation is so terse, is that the Chinese original doesn't give any explanation about the workings of the system either. And that is very Chinese: don't ask _how_ the system works, just see if it works for _you_.
The calculations in S&C's book help you to calculate your Four Pillars. These calculations are not found in the Chinese original, because in China everybody already knows their Four Pillars. And S&C's calculations are just one way of many to get your FP's. Complex? Yes, but it would be useless to explain why they choose this method, because it would not add anything to the subject of the book.
The Chinese original explains each hexagram in terms of 'you will (not) get rich, you will (not) have many childeren, you will (not) have a high place in society', etc.; this is what most Chinese people were/are interested in. S&C give a more Western approach, adding psychological elements about character and capabilities.
The former reviewer has experienced that the system works. In China that would be sufficient. And S&C's translation is a very Chinese book.